fulltime - Here and There

Winding down our fulltime RV Adventure

July 16, 2022 grscott

We started our fulltime RV adventure over 9 years ago in May of 2013. Our travels have taken us across the USA, coast to coast, and we have thoroughly enjoyed the journey. The past couple of years brought some major changes to our lifestyle.

For one thing, COVID cramped our style the same as it did for everyone else. We hunkered down in a comfortable urban campground for the duration.
Meanwhile, I kept getting requests to serve as interim pastor in different places. What with COVID making it difficult to plan and the satisfaction we get from helping churches, we took the departure from our touring lifestyle in stride and enjoyed ministering to some wonderful people.
Also, medical stuff has occupied more and more of our calendar. Thank God, the concerns haven’t been major. They have, though, impacted our travel plans as well as our bank account!
While we full well know that there’s a lot to see and do in this country, we’ve had a bit of a feeling of “been-there-done-that.” There are many gaps in our travel, but we’ve seen a great deal over the past several years and have visited some favorite areas more than once.
We’ve gotten kind of tired of living in a RV. I think this is related to slowing down our travel the past couple of years. Doing typical RV chores and living in a small space is well worth the inconvenience so long as the tradeoff is going places and seeing new things. For us, the less we have done, the less we have enjoyed the RV as a residence.
Finally, skyrocketing fuel costs have influenced our thinking. Fill ups costing hundreds of dollars do make one think twice about hitting the road.

Had the slowdown not happened we might have continued the RV life a bit longer. You might say that we lost much of our “momentum” waiting out COVID, etc. Frankly, we never retired to live in a RV – rather we retired to travel in a RV.

All this to say we are retiring from fulltime RVing, at least for the foreseeable future. Even as I write this the motorhome is on a consignment lot waiting for the right buyer to come along. I expect to get a smaller rig at some point in the future so we can do some seasonal, short-term travel. Time will tell.

All of this, though, doesn’t mean our unconventional retirement adventures are over. In a few days we will begin an entirely new adventure. I’ll write more about that in a few days. We’re excited about this next step!

Reflecting on our 2021 Adventure

December 28, 2021 grscott

2021 – Medina Lake Thousand Trails – Lakehills, TX

Our 2021 Adventure kept us in Texas for the year – our first full year in one state since we began the fulltime RV life. A combination of Covid concerns, other health issues, and time serving churches as interim pastor kept us in our home state for the year.

We started the year in Denison, TX serving as interim pastor. North Texas isn’t the greatest place to be in an RV in the winter but serving a great congregation of people made up for the cold and windy days. We finished up and headed south just as the infamous Texas February freeze began. Waiting out freezing rain and slick roads kept us at one place a few extra days, then a break in the weather allowed us to make a run for Lake Conroe Thousand Trails before the real deep freeze and snow came. We were very thankful for our generator when much of Texas lost power. We stayed comfortable, but homebound, waiting for “spring” just a week or so later.

Our winter stay at Green Caye in Dickinson, TX was extended due to some health issues and by the time we were ready to travel it was already early summer. We decided to work our way to the beautiful Texas Hill Country (north and west of San Antonio). The Texas summer heat was no fun, but the lower humidity of that area did help. While we were there I was asked to fill in at a church in Devine, TX. This is a small congregation of good people and it was a pleasure to minister to them.

As summer ended we began to reverse our course staying at the three area Thousand Trails before landing back at Green Caye to end the year and begin the New Year.

One of the great things about being retired fulltime RVers is the absolute flexibility we enjoy. It’s easy to adjust our plans when desired or needed. This has been a year of adjustments.

We had one big repair this year – a black water tank leak (yuck!). While the motorhome was in the shop we stayed in a Thousand Trails cabin for nearly two weeks. Fortunately, we get one week a year in a cabin at no cost and a discount the rest of the time. The repair was, though, expensive. It was also necessary and we are thankful that we haven’t had any more issues.

We’re thinking 2022 is going to be a new chapter in our retirement adventure. Exactly what is still being decided. Stay tuned!

2021 – Lake Conroe Thousand Trails – Willis, TX (Fall review)

November 11, 2021November 11, 2021 grscott

We’ve had another good stay at Lake Conroe Thousand Trails, Willis, TX. As I posted a few months ago, we’ve stayed at this campground often and written plenty of reviews, so I’ll just share a few random thoughts about this property in this post.

We think the best thing about Lake Conroe TT is the gorgeous sunsets over the lake. A lot of people head down to the boat launch to enjoy to view. However, if you want the best view walk down to the lake front in “The Reserve” – that’s the permanent community just to the left at the entrance gate. You get a terrific sunset view there.

When all the new sites were added to the right of the gate we felt that it freed up a lot of nice sites over in the older part of the campground. However, it seems that things have changed as more seasonal sites have been sold and the campground feels as full now as ever. That said, we’ve never had a problem finding a good spot to land. Upon our arrival this time we were told that there were only two or three sites open. However, when we started looking around we found two additional great spots to choose from.

Jackie really likes the big Kroger that is just a few minutes from the campground. It is built like Fred Meyers stores out on the west coast (same company). We think most people will find it worth visiting.

We’ve been frustrated with the way many Thousand Trails handle packages – often charging as much as $5 a UPS/Fedex package. It seems odd that a campground that is actively selling long term sites would treat their residents like that. Anyway, you might want to know that there’s an Amazon Hub Locker just outside the gate at the RV Ranch.

Covid seems to have been the end of the on-site restaurant. However, the alternative is pretty good: food trucks set up on the property during busy times. Hopefully, they will sell enough food to make it worth their while to come out.

The Conroe area, in general is exploding in growth. Every time we come in to Lake Conroe after being out of the area it seems traffic is worse. I doubt it is going to get any better as housing development is going on everywhere. This area is being swallowed up by the city.

Another thing we have noticed is that there are more full time families in the campground. During the summers we don’t think much about how many children we see. However, now that school is in session we’ve been surprised at the large number of children in the campground during weekdays. I’ve seen the school bus making a stop at the gate, but it’s my impression that many of these children are being home schooled. I’m sure Covid has caused a major explosion in the number of children being home schooled. That, of course, fits right into the RV lifestyle. No judgement here, just something we have noticed.

We have always liked Lake Conroe Thousand Trails and rank it as one of the best in the system. I’m thinking that all the upgrades plus its location close to the big city plus the explosion of RVers is going to keep Lake Conroe running at near capacity most all the time. I suggest reserving as early as possible when planning on visiting this campground.

Happy 8th RVing Anniversary to us!

May 6, 2021 grscott

We’re celebrating the 8th anniversary of my retirement and our beginning the fulltime RV lifestyle! Eight years ago our dear friends at Alvin, TX Church of the Nazarene gave us a terrific retirement party on Sunday, and then, on Monday we began our RV life. During these years we have traveled the USA coast to coast. We’ve met many nice people and made some great friends. We have also taken time out from traveling to fill in at various churches that were in pastoral transition. Again, we have made many wonderful friends and enjoyed being of service in those churches. This year we are hanging out in the Houston area getting ready to celebrate our granddaughter’s high school graduation. After that, we will begin our 2021 Adventure.

Researching, planning, reserving

April 23, 2021 grscott

I’ve always mostly enjoyed the planning part of fulltiming. If others prefer free lancing it is fine with me, but that’s not my thing. I get a kick out of searching the web for the best campgrounds in interesting places and within our budget. As has been reported on many fronts, one unexpected impact of Covid has been a surge in the popularity of RVing. Sales reached record highs and campgrounds began to experience record occupancy.

Our 2021 Adventure has been delayed a bit as we prepare to celebrate a family event but we are looking forward to getting underway in a bit over a month. Knowing that campgrounds are filling up, I have spent time researching campgrounds and destinations, planning our route, and then reserving camp sites.

I’ve written before about planning: here and here.

For instance, this coming winter we want to spend some time in Arizona. There are an amazing number of places there that cater to winter RVers. I spent considerable time checking the information on websites and reading reviews. Once I narrowed my choice down and actually called about vacancies (still 7-8 months out!) I found that many places I had marked as good possibilities reported no room in the inn! Now, if I wanted to spend $1000 a month I would have no problem finding a spot (well, probably not, since our rig isn’t new enough), but trying to stay within a reasonable budget puts us in competition with lots of other RVing retirees.

We finally settled on a spot and made our deposit. As of right now, we are booked up for practically every night the rest of the year. For even me this level of planning is a bit over the top, but it sure beats landing in an area for a week or two and being told that there are no vacancies.

Personally, I think this is just how it is going to be from now on. Not only are many discovering RVing but many campgrounds are selling sites for long term use. Like it or lump it planning is going to be a part of the fulltime RV lifestyle.

Fulltiming and the Coronavirus

March 17, 2020 grscott

The coronavirus outbreak is a fluid situation. Today’s guidance from officials may be outdated by this evening. To some extent we are all just waiting for the next domino to fall. Fulltime RVers aren’t exempt from all the uncertainty. The other day I saw a meme on Facebook picturing a class C parked alone on a peninsula overlooking a pretty lake. The caption, meant to bring a smile, said that they were practicing social distancing. Then, in less than a day I saw a news article that New Mexico was closing its campgrounds. I couldn’t help but wonder if that RV was being evicted from that isolated spot.

I see that FMCA and Escapees have announced changes in their rally schedules. No doubt that leaves some fulltimers looking for a place to land now that they won’t be attending their rally as planned.

In our case, we’re still at our winter campground. In fact, we had already planned on a longer than usual stay while I serve as interim pastor at a local church during their pastoral search. A few days ago I mentioned to the campground management that we just might be staying into the summer – not because of the church assignment but because our summer plans might be disrupted by the pandemic.

At this point I think fulltimers might be wise to find a campground they like that will allow longer stays. Many of us are in the higher risk group and it makes sense to take advantage of our more unstructured lifestyle to land in an acceptable spot and wait for the storm to blow over. Of course, everyone has their own particular concerns: family needs, events, appointments and the like. If possible, though, I’d be looking into suitable long term parking.

And, while I’m writing, I’ll switch to my pastoral identity for a moment. From a health point of view, we’re urged to wash our hands to protect against a virus infection. From a spiritual point of view, I urge you to spend time with the Lord – maybe whispering a 20 second prayer each time you wash your hands – pray for our world and for ourselves and those we love. Ask the Lord to protect you against the infection of fear and anxiety that is sweeping across the world. Also, you might include a prayer of thanksgiving for running water and soap. Oh yeah, also pray for our President and other national leaders; maybe health care providers and medical researchers too.

Come to think of it, you might need more than 20 seconds for those prayers.

Reflecting on our 2019 Adventure

December 14, 2019February 5, 2020 grscott

Our 2019 Adventure was our first year in our 2005 Safari Cheetah diesel pusher motorhome. Traveling in the motorhome as opposed to the 5th wheel presented a bit of a learning curve for us. We got the Cheetah in January and put a lot of effort getting comfortable on the “camper side” of the rig. However, when we started traveling in April (and in spite of our having taken a few shake down cruises in it) we began finding mechanical issues that needed attention. Not only that, but we had a few mishaps that added to the list of needed fixes. We worked our way through them as we traveled and finally felt we had resolved most of problems.

Over all we drove the motorhome just over 4200 miles, visiting 31 campgrounds in 17 states. Our longest move day was 305 miles but our average move was just 136 miles.

Our winter stay was a bit longer than usual. Our year started and ended at Green Caye RV Park in Dickinson, Texas – 150 days total for the year. This isn’t anything close to being our favorite park, but it is near friends and family (and doctors) so it is a reasonable winter landing spot for us.

Our Thousand Trails membership continues to be a good investment for us. This year we spent 154 nights at Thousand Trails campgrounds in six states.

Our favorite campgrounds, though, remain Corps of Engineers campgrounds. Our America the Beautiful pass makes these great campgrounds a real bargain for us.

One of the highlights of the year for us was having our family join us at Hershey, PA Thousand Trails. We had a great time visiting all the sights of the Hershey-Lancaster-Gettysburg area. It was especially fun sharing with them some of our favorite attractions in the area – places like Jiggers in Mt Gretna and the Bird In Hand Farmer’s Market.

The other highlight of our year was celebrating our 50th Wedding Anniversary at Niagara Falls. We celebrated all week, exploring the area everywhere from the beautiful Gorge to taking a boat ride through locks on the Erie Canal. We saved our day at the Falls for the actual date of our anniversary and then went out for an excellent meal after a busy day at the Falls.

In a couple of weeks I’ll finish the year with an expense report – admittedly, it has been a pretty expensive year. Still, as you can see, we got a lot of bang for our buck!

2019 – Gettysburg Farm Thousand Trails – Dover, PA (take 2)

August 8, 2019February 5, 2020 grscott

We are just finishing up our second stay in as many months at Gettysburg Farm Thousand Trails near Dover, PA. Since I have done a couple of recent reviews of this nice campground there’s no need for me to do another at this time.

The main reason we returned here was that we needed a base of operations to attend a wedding 100 miles from here. I was graciously given permission to leave the camper unoccupied for a couple of days (something not normally allowed for traveling members of Thousand Trails).

This stay is, though, part of a bit of an experiment for us this summer. During our previous years a stay of longer than 11 days was unusual for us. We “land” for the winters and travel throughout the summer. This year we returned to south-central Pennsylvania, bouncing between the various Thousand Trails for just over six weeks. Considering that we enjoyed a couple of visits from family and then attended a wedding it worked out. However, one outcome of our experiment is that we think we’d rather, in general, keep to less-than-two-week stays. There’s no right or wrong in any of this. We’ve known some folks who move nightly or close to it. For me that would be like having a job. Touring fulltimers have to find the approach that suits them best. For us, 10-11 days gives us the right mix of sightseeing and “just-living” days.

Just thinking: Make every day count

February 8, 2019February 5, 2020 grscott

As we’ve enjoyed the fulltime lifestyle we’ve met some interesting people. Many fulltimers tell me they have a blog, and if they do, I bookmark their site intending to keep up with them. To be honest, I tend to forget those bookmarked sites and seldom look at them.

Tonight, something brought those blogs to mind and I decided to check in on those folks we’ve meet along the way.

To my surprise many of them have left the road. As far as I can tell, the lifestyle changes were pretty much voluntary although I know of a few folks who have had health issues that forced a change of lifestyle (I wrote about that here). The others, I think, just came to a “been there done that” time in life and decided to find a place to land and start a new chapter in their lives.

While I was surprised at the number of fulltime RVers we’ve met that are no longer traveling it comes as no surprise that things change. In fact, as someone has wisely said, change is the one constant in life.

It is, though, good to be reminded that as enjoyable as fulltiming is, for most of us it’s an all too brief passage of life. Hopefully, for us, the adventure will end because we done all we wanted to do and are ready for a different sort of adventure. There’s a pretty good chance though, that it will involve something less voluntary.

I guess the point of this philosophic rambling is a reminder that the fulltime lifestyle, as enjoyable as it is, is a temporary passage in life. We don’t want to take this blessing for granted and we don’t want to get sidetracked from it by anything that doesn’t measure up, although it is reasonable to be reminded that some things do measure up and can make an unexpected appearance at any time (we’ve had that happen once). As it is, though, this chapter will end soon enough. Whether we have a short or long time to go in this adventure we want to make every day count.

2019 – Motorhome Owners!

January 16, 2019 grscott

After fulltiming in our beloved 2007 NuWa Hitchhiker II LS 5th wheel for nearly 6 years we have made a big change to a little driven 2005 Safari Cheetah diesel pusher coach. The new (to us) rig has many bells and whistles. I’ll have much more to write about this new chapter in our fulltiming adventure as time goes by. For now we are very busy getting moved in. Right off we have learned that a 39′ motorhome has considerably less storage than a 34′ 5th wheel! Our family came through for us big time, helping us move out of our Hitchhiker and into the Cheetah – I don’t think we would have made it without their help. Honestly, we aren’t nearly settled in yet. We have time though, as we don’t intend on beginning our 2019 Adventure until mid-March. No doubt about it, this is a big move for us that we hope gives us several more years of rv adventures.